4 stabbed at Texas home church service; suspect in custody

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (AP) — Four people were stabbed Wednesday during a church service at a Texas home and a man is in custody, police said.

The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported that the incident occurred about 7 p.m. at a nondenominational service. Corpus Christi police were called to the home and found the pastor who had been holding the service stabbed in the chest.

Lt. Jay Clement told the newspaper that both the pastor and a band member who was also wounded were taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The band member was stabbed in the neck, according to the newspaper.

Clement said two more people received punctures — one to the hand and another in the arm. He said they were injured trying to get the suspect away from the pastor.

He said it’s not clear what led to the attack and that the suspect faces aggravated assault charges.

Those attending services at the home have been gathering there each day as part of a “40-day pledge,” Clement said, adding that witnesses said the suspect was a parishioner.

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In November, a gunman fatally shot more than two dozen worshippers at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, before dying of an apparent self-inflected gunshot wound. Investigators have said that attack appeared to stem from a domestic dispute.

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Information from: Corpus Christi Caller-Times, http://www.caller.com

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